Texas doesn't play around

This week marks an anniversary in Texas history. October 2 is the anniversary of the Battle of Gonzales which is considered the first battle of the Texas Revolution.

You may not know about the Battle of Gonzales, but you surely know its impact.

In the podcast this week, we're talking about the battle and how this cannon has had an impact on Texas history almost 200 years.

Gonzales, in fact, is celebrating its bicentennial Thursday. The battle itself was ten years later, but the Gonzales Memorial Museum says crowds always spike this time of year. You can't even get a hotel room in town, so this spike in interest in the "Come and Take It" flag can also introduce people Gonzales.

The director of the Gonzales Main Street Program says 15,000 people come for the Come and Take It Celebration, more than twice the city's population. So this year, they'll also use the side of the museum to show off the city's history.

The Come and Take It flag speaks to a lot of us. In the podcast, a historian explains the people defending Gonzales could have no clue we'd still be talking about it now.

The cannon had been a gift from Mexico to help Gonzales defend itself against Native American raids. When things went south between Texas and Mexico, Mexico wanted it back.

The director of the museum, Roilene Sullivan, says the Texians explained, "Sure, you gave us this cannon to defend ourselves. It's just that we now have to defend ourselves against you."

But this ragtag group didn't have the supplies to defend itself. Sullivan and historian Dale Schellenberg say the cannon wasn't even built to fire. It was just supposed to look scary to the Native Americans.

So the Texians fixed the cannon, and the town blacksmith grabbed all the scrap metal he could find and shoved it in there. Sullivan and Schellenberg say people even fired off their silverware, explaining a fork and knife may not compare well with a Tomahawk missile, but when you fire a knife out of a cannon, it can still act as a fair deterrent.

There were actually two cannons. They were both almost lost to time. Samuel Maverick found the bigger cannon on his property 16 years after the battle. His widow eventually sent it to New York where it was melted down and used in the bell at St. Mark's Episcolpal Church in San Antonio.

The smaller cannon is on display at the museum. That was buried and only found after a flood.

No one at that battle knew "come and take it" would become a worldwide phenomenon. The initial "flag" just had the phrase painted along with the cannon and a star on a wedding dress.

Schellenberg says he's seen the flag overseas, and it's become more popular again with other issues, saying he's seen the cannon replaced with everything from an AR-15 to a baby bottle.

So the next time you're feeling down on yourself, feeling like you can't compete against a bigger, stronger opponent, remember the people of Gonzales used a cannon packed with silverware to fend of Mexico. The only Texian who was hurt had a bloody nose from being bucked off his horse.

Granted, that was just the first battle of the war and the Alamo was still to come. Sullivan says a lot of the men from Gonzales kissed their wives and children then went to fight at the Alamo, and their families never saw them again.

But if you ever needed to defend your land against an invasion, the people of Gonzales can provide you with the grit to turn sporks into missiles.